Blue Printed Mark – Marks on China

Dating Royal Worcester 1867 to 1927

December 27, 2020
by Gaile Griffin Peers

The modern Royal Worcester mark (without the words Royal Worcester England and the dots) was first introduced in 1862. Initially two numbers in addition to the logo indicated the date (eg 63 for 1863 impressed or printed).

In 1867 the number was printed or replaced with a Capital letter (starting with A and continuing to M in 1877 – neither F or J were used). In 1878 capital letters replaced the numbers completely and from 1878’s N continued through to 1888 and Z (missing out O and Q). The O was used in 1889. In 1890, the latter a appears in lowercase – clearly intending to follow the previous pattern, however, the McKinley Tariff Act meant the the country of origin had to be included on all export ware, so the logo was redesigned to include the words Royal Worcester England around the outside of the circle (with no dots or date mark for 1891).

From 1892 dots were introduced, to the left and right of the Crown, to indicate the year, starting with one dot (on the left) for 1892

The following year a dot was added to the right, the year after another to the right and so on until 1903 by which time there were six on both sides of the Crown.

Royal Worcester 1902 (error in mark the five dots should be on the right ) [LG]

The following year (1904) a dot was added underneath – in 1905 two dots and so on until 1915, by which time there were six dots on each side of the Crown and 12 underneath the circle making a total of 24.

Royal Worcester mark for 1907 (the dots were sometimes smudged, so need magnification to ensure they are not the asterisk used after 1916) [LG]

For most pieces this was now unwieldy so the dots underneath were replaced by an asterisk in 1916 to which a dot was added each following year until 1927.

Quick Reference for dating Royal Worcester 1867 – 1927

18th Century

Eearly Dresden and Meissen

December 27, 2020
by Gaile Griffin Peers

Dresden and Meissen Marks 1710 – 1933 [GGP]

NB: Later Meissen Marks (20th Century on) are usually printed on Transfer Printed Wares

20th Century

Alfred Meakin

December 9, 2020
by Gaile Griffin Peers

20th Century

S Hancock and Sons and other Corona Marks

October 9, 2021
by Lorely Griffiths

Royal Corona Ware (also known as Corona Ware) with a very similar mark was made by Sampson Hancock and Sons from 1912 until 1937.

Sampson Hancock was started in Tunstall around 1858. In 1870 they relocated to the Bridgeworks in Stoke. Primarily an Earthenware manufacturer, Hancock’s popular wares were inexpensive. (the hand drawn numbers in the picture are pattern numbers)

Initials

S.H.

were used between 1858 – 1891

Printed mark

S. HANCOCK

was used from 1858

S. H. & S.

S. H. & Sons

1891 – 1935

Other marks from this factory – including ones using the word MAGNET or THE “DUCHESS” CHINA – all either feature the company initials or the factory name within the design. The word England was added after 1891.

Warning

Marks featuring a Crown with the word

CORONA

on its own, underneath are NOT made by Sampson Hancock and Sons – they are either Gater, Hall and Company (1914 – 1943) or by Barratts of Staffordshire (who took over Gater Hall in 1943). From 1943 on they also used a mark incorporating the words

CROWN CORONA

18th Century

Coalport

December 7, 2020
by Gaile Griffin Peers

Modern pieces of Coalport are clearly marked. What is less well known is that the Factory also used marks that imitated other factories, particularly in the early 19th Century. Coalport also absorbed other factories and incorporated their marks in its own – including the crescent moon used on Salopian ware by Caughley and the S and N of Swansea and Natgarw

19th Century

Spode

December 7, 2020
by Gaile Griffin Peers

Spode reputedly bought William Turners Stoneware patent some time during the second decade of the Nineteenth Century, with items classed as stoneware appearing from around 1815. Experimentation with Felspar and other additions to the formula saw a patent for “New Stone” filed around 1821, with pieces primarily featuring oriental style designs appearing by the following year. When Copeland Garrett took over the factory in 1833, the mark was retained. Pieces of this style and with comparatively early pattern numbers like the one illustrated below fall into the early and original Spode New Stone era and this plate dates from around 1822-1825

Spode Stone China – Blue 1815-30 (Black 1805-1815) (Godden 3651 p.589)

19th Century

Dating Royal Copenhagen

December 7, 2020
by Gaile Griffin Peers

Royal Copenhagen has used the three wavy water lines to identify their porcelain since it started in 1775 – Early pieces frequently include a dot in front of the waves. The mark was not very consistently drawn, often with quite flat waves that look quite rushed- presumably each workman had their own slight variant until about 1820.

Hand drawn lines usually indicate manufacture before 1885. The example to the left is pre 1840.

Between 1885 and 1890 the lines are more uniform – either done with a three nib pen or as a print.

From 1889 a circle was added over the lines – inside which was a crown between the curved words Royal Copenhagen.

From c. 1890, export ware featured a small crown over tiny waves over the word Denmark (spelled in English) in a circle over three larger waves. The circle was dropped from non export marks.

Between 1894 and 1897 a variation of the export mark was used without the circle and the tiny waves, however these are easy to spot as this is the only period in which DANMARK, the Danish word for Denmark, was used.

In 1897 until 1922 the words Royal Copenhagen replaced the circle. Separated with two dots (one each side of the word Royal) the words sit above the three wavy lines.

1923 had two variant marks – one an ornate crown over waves with no text, the other the crown that was used in the post 1923 mark, but over the word Denmark, over the waves.

The printed mark in the bottom picture has been in use with subtle variations since 1923 the principle difference between this and the pre 1923 mark is the combination of the factory name and the country of origin – again spelled in the English way as Denmark. All Royal Copenhagen marks that include text are printed in capitals in a non-serif font.

Dating indicators were first added to the Royal Copenhagen mark in 1935. There were two types – Lines were used underglaze and dots used overglaze, they are quite distinctive and easy to see.

Underglaze Line

Look for a line under or over the letters (note from 1985 the line covers two letters).

Line over the top of the letter – ROYAL COPENHAGEN – R = 1935, O=1936, Y=1937 etc through to N=1949

Line under the letter – ROYAL DENMARK COPENHA – R=1950, O=1951 Y= 1952 etc through to A=1967

From 1968 to 1974 the mark stayed under the G

From 1975 until 1979 the line moved to the E

From 1980 until 1984 the line moved to the N

From 1985 to 1991 the mark covers both the R and the O

From 1992 to 1999 the mark covers the Y and the A

From 2000 to 2004 the mark covers the A and the L

Overglaze Dot

As before look for a Dot above or below the letters – to make life complicated the years run from the end of the word to the front and the words are repeated… so…

Dot under the letter – KRAMNED – K=1935, R=1936, A=1937 through to D=1941

Dot over the letter – KRAMNED – K=1942, R=1943, A=1944 through to D=1948

Dot under the letter – NEGAHNEPOC – N=1949, E=1950, G=1951 through to C=1958

Dot over the letter – NEGAHNEPOC – N=1959, E=1960, G=1961 through to C=1968

Dot over the letter – ROYAL – L=1969 to 1973, A=1974 to 1978, Y=1979 to 1983, O=1984 – 1988, R=1993

So the modern sugar bowl in the picture dates from between 1969 and 1973.

NB There is a separate code for the crown and Denmark mark (that excludes the factory name) which will be covered in another article.

16th Century

Chinese Reign Marks

December 7, 2020
by Gaile Griffin Peers

Collecting old chinese pottery and porcelain is not as expensive as some might have you believe. For example in Spain there is a love of Blue and White that spans generations and cultures. You can find pieces in most places that you look and many will be chinese. However, whilst very old and splendid pieces might horribly expensive, small pieces can still be bought with a limited budget – if you have the enthusiasm to look.

The two rules to remember are

1) Having a mark on the bottom, like the reign marks in the picture for this article, does not mean that it really dates from that period.

2) Having no mark at all does not mean that it is valueless, just that the piece did not need to be stamped to sell – so was probably not intended for export.

So what does the reign mark on Chinese porcelain mean?

Yes it can mean that the piece is of the period. As you get more familiar with handling pieces (which you can do in antique fairs and shops – where they will be dated for you) you will find that there are other indicators, texture, technique, composition, colour and style that help to date each piece.

In most instances where you see a reign mark outside a museum though, it is because Chinese potters and the porcelain Studios adopted the styles of earlier generations and, if they felt the piece passed muster, would honour the memory of past masters by dedicating their piece to that period. It wasn’t originally done with the intent to defraud (tho’ it is now). It was done to say that the pot, vase, bowl, teaset was an homage to earlier artisans and the creator was proud to stand his work next to pieces of that period. A ‘don’t go old, go bold’ gauntlet to traditionalists. So many marks indicating a period before 1722 will be “apocryphal”.

Halfway through the reign of the Emperor K’ang Hsi (various spellings) he declared an abhorance of the idea that anything not intended for his and palace use should bear his mark. So it was banned with serious life threatening punishments for any infringement. Only royal porcelain was permitted to use the mark. So, after he died, everyone did it – therefore most marked K’ang Hsi pieces aren’t from the period unless they date from the beginning of his reign. Yung Cheng pieces tend to be genuine and although the post 1795 period was prolific in using older marks (including Ch’ien Lung to appeal to Western Markets), anything carrying a post 1795 reign mark is generally what it says it is – ‘Made in China’ pieces are post 1891 – and Republic – post revolution.

Category: <span>Blue Printed Mark</span>

Quick Reference for dating Royal Worcester 1867 – 1927

Warning